Burning Her Training Bra

I guess it all started when Scarlett and I were watching Pride and Prejudice (The old one, of course, with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson) and I had to explain to Scarlett that through most of history a woman was defined by the man she married. Scarlett explained to me that she was mighty glad that our world didn’t work that way anymore and that women were able to work and get their own money so that they could marry whomever they wanted to marry to be equal partners with them. I smiled.

The following could be a dramatic re-enactment of a conversation that Scarlett had with the neighbor girl. Feel free to get a friend to re-enact it, or, if you don’t have a friend on-hand, sock puppets will do.

Our players are SCARLETT, who is eight years old, and NEIGHBOR GIRL, who is ten.

Our scene begins as NEIGHBOR GIRL emerges from her house to find SCARLETT playing in the snow. SCARLETT’s dad spent the majority of the morning playing with SCARLETT and NEIGHBOR GIRL, but now was out at the store buying groceries.

NEIGHBOR GIRL: Hey Scarlett. (looking about for SCARLETT’s dad)

SCARLETT: Hey Neigh-

NEIGHBOR GIRL: (cutting SCARLETT’s greeting short) Where’s your dad?

SCARLETT: (without missing a beat) He went to the store.

NEIGHBOR GIRL: (visibly confused) Isn’t that a mom’s job?

SCARLETT: No. Sometimes he does the dishes too.

NEIGHBOR GIRL: (with a sniggering jest) No he doesn’t.

SCARLETT: (a bit upset with this archaic notion, sighs) Yes he does. I think more men should be like that.

This concludes our tale of SCARLETT’s actual conversation with the NEIGHBOR GIRL. Tune in next time when Bubba takes on the ACLU.